Our Preacher

My name is Paul R. Blake. It is my privilege to serve as the evangelist for the Trilacoochee church of Christ north of Dade City, Florida. I have been preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ since the autumn of 1976, and it is a work I dearly love. Thank you for your interest in the work that we’re doing together at Trilacoochee. Please permit me to introduce myself to you.

I was born in West Virginia and raised near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have been a Christian from the age of nine and have been preaching since the age of 16. My first experience in preaching each week was at the Franklin Farms Road congregation in Washington, PA. After two years, I went to Florida College for a year, and then worked under the guidance of Almon Williams at the Castle Heights congregation in Tampa. I’ve been blessed with opportunities to work with churches in Wellsburg, West Virginia, Blytheville, Arkansas, Youngstown, Ohio, Tomlinson Run, Pennsylvania, and now Trilacoochee, Florida.

I married my Florida College sweetheart, the former Coral McGlaughlin, in September of 1979, and we have four wonderful daughters: Krystal, Heather, Amber, and Alyssa. They are all married to godly men and are serving the Lord in their own communities. We have been blessed with a beautiful grandchild, Lyla; and as all doting grandparents, we are looking forward to many more. When I have leisure time, I enjoy good books, gardening, golf, and geocaching, in that order, although I have been known to fish, target shoot, attend auctions, and pitch horseshoes on occasion.

As of this writing, I have been preaching, teaching, and writing for 42 years. I have been blessed to share in many Gospel meeting efforts around the country, and everywhere I go, I am delighted to find Christians filled with faith in God and in fellowship with one another. The same is true of the disciples of our Lord who meet at Trilacoochee.

In my work here, I teach public Bible classes on Sunday and Wednesday, teach private Bible classes at any and every opportunity during the week, preach two sermons every week, and provide comfort and counsel for church members who are struggling with spiritual challenges and difficult burdens. I am eager to hear your observations, requests, or questions you may have about the scripture-based work of our Lord at Trilacoochee.